Background: Numerous predictors of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) outcomes have been identified. We aimed to determine whether the duration of surgery independently predicts outcome in patients undergoing CABG.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from 337 patients (mean age 62 +/- 7 years) who underwent CABG consecutively at our institution between January 2005 and December 2006.
Results: Duration of surgery correlated positively with length of both surgical intensive care unit (SICU) stay (r = .147, P = .004) and ventilator support (r = .097, P = .038) in univariate analysis, but only with length of SICU stay (P = .01) in a multivariate logistic regression after confounding factors were controlled for in the model. The regression coefficient was .006; every additional 30 minutes of surgery time was associated with 4.32 more hours of SICU stay. Duration of surgery was not associated with survival (P > .05).
Conclusions: Although duration of surgery did not affect short-term survival after CABG, surgical duration independently predicted length of SICU stays. Efforts to reduce the length of operations may promote more efficient use of hospital resources.